Press Start to Continue
by Drizzt1138
Summary: A story of Tarmikos Warlockbane, the avatar of a player who participated in the Battle of Chthonia. Rated K for mild violence.


Press Start to Continue

A Ready Player One fanfic

Ah, yes, so you want to hear about the Battle of Chthonia, hmm? Yes, an exciting tale if ever there was one. The largest, greatest battle in OASIS history by far, still without peer even after all these years. Indeed, I was there. I took part in the battle that saved the OASIS from the grasp of IOI. Come closer, sit by the fire, and I will tell you my story.

I was much younger in those days. Time had not taken it's toll on me, although within the world of the game I was a seasoned warrior. My avatar was a Wood Elf by the name of Tarmikos Warlockbane. At the time, I was somewhere around… let's see, I believe it was level 74? Regardless, while I was not the most experienced player in the game, I had racked up some mighty fine rewards on my various travels.

I was never much of a gunter, I will admit. Instead, I moved as the wind took me. I started out spending most of my time in Tamriel, in the magical province of Skyrim. Then I started exploring other worlds, mostly Gygax and Faerun, and the other various fantasy worlds of the OASIS. That is, until I discovered Mandalore.

Mandalore was from the Star Wars expanded universe, and most of it's stories came from after the time of Halliday's youth, but before the horrid corporate juggernaut known as Disney bought out the franchise. Regardless, the culture fascinated me, and I soon became a member of the Mandalorian Empire. From that day forward, I wore my black and green Mando armor with pride, although I will admit I modified it a bit, a not unheard-of practice.

After my travels on Mandalore, I began to explore other science-fiction worlds. I completed a number of quests for the UNSC from Halo, and gained a lot of standard-issue equipment from them. I also completed a few missions for the Turians of Mass Effect, and soon I had my very own Turian light frigate. I dubbed her the _Fearless_. I will admit I modified her a bit as well, adding in magical components to make sure it could function in no-tech areas, and adding in some extra firepower for when I needed it.

But enough about that. I have many stories for you to hear, but for now I will focus on the one at hand. Now where was I… ah, yes!

I was aboard the _Fearless_ when I heard what was going on. Once I did, I immediately ordered Letti, my UNSC-issue AI, to plot a course to the scene of the battle. Soon we were in orbit, along with all the other players who wanted a piece of the action, the number of whom was quickly growing.

There wasn't much room to park on the ground, which was already covered with a fine dusting of avatars of all shapes and sizes. Thankfully, I had expected this would happen, and came prepared. As I walked down to the landing bay, I strapped on my jetpack, which would help me get to the surface without going _splat._

Once I was there, I took a quick look at my inventory to make sure I was completely ready for battle. UNSC standard-issue shotgun? Check. Verpine sniper rifle? Check. Glass sword of scorching? Check. Grenades? Check. Potions of healing? Check. Letti's memory chip? Double check. As I plugged her into my armor, I took a final glance at the vid feed on my helmet's HUD. Most of the news channels were showing footage from in or around the site of the coming battle. Everyone knew history was about to be made.

With a deep breath, I minimized the footage and prepared to open the landing bay doors. Letti popped up on the bottom left corner of my HUD. She presented herself as a pretty woman with a cloud of curly red hair and jade green eyes. She did more in battle than just manage my suit's functions; the sight of her always helped me calm down and focus.

I took a few steps back and got ready to make a running start. "Are you ready?" Letti said with her light Irish accent.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Open the hanger door." As she did so, air rushed into the landing bay, almost pulling me out of the ship prematurely. I gathered my wits about me, took out my sniper rifle, and dashed out the doors and over the edge. Now the wind was rushing all around me as I plummeted towards the planet's surface. "Letti, fire the jet pack on my mark! Sync?"

"Sync!" She responded, confirming that she knew the plan. As I continued falling, she pulled up my distance from the surface, as well as a value of about when I would need to use the jet pack in order to slow my descent. She could have handled the whole thing on her own, but she knew that I liked to have a hand in things. We worked as a team in everything, even the small stuff.

When I was about halfway to the ground, I saw the shield around the castle go down. I knew this was my chance. Keeping one eye on my altitude, I readied my sniper rifle and zoomed in on the Sixer's position. I was able to get a few shots in, not killing any of the Sixers, but certainly dealing out some damage. After a few shots, I had fallen into the range where I would have to use my jet pack. "Mark!" I yelled over the wind rushing around me, and I felt a tug at my back as my fall started to slow.

As I touched down on the ground, I took out my shotgun and dashed into the fray. At first I mostly saw fellow gunters, but soon I started seeing some Sixer avatars in the mix as well. They had all been damaged by the gunters on the front lines, so I easily picked them off with my shotgun.

It was a massive battle. I ran out of ammo for my shotgun fairly quickly. That was when my sword came out, and I got a little reckless. "Letti, jet pack!" I called out, and again I felt the tug at my back as I flew up into the air. I pulled out a grenade with one hand and lobbed it into the crowd a few meters away, behind the Sixers front line, and flew towards the blast as soon as it exploded. I timed it just well enough that I didn't end up killing my own avatar, but I had successfully cleared out the Sixers in the area.

"Behind you!" Letti cried, and I whirled around just in time to block the sword that a Sixer had sent hurling towards my head. I stabbed in at my opponent, but he blocked it with his shield and tried a stab of his own. I dodged out of the way, and then used my own sword to push his out of the way. This left a hole in his defenses, and I used the opportunity to finish him off.

Unfortunately, three more took his place, and I could see even more converging on my position on my radar. I kept on fighting, but I was taking hits, enough so that my shields were dropping dangerously low. I knew my health bar would be taking hits soon, so I used my jet pack again to get out of danger. I was pretty sure I was going to make it when the explosion hit.

Of course, it's probably not the ending you wanted. But it is, of course, the ending you would have expected if you knew about how the Sixers had used the Catalyst to wipe out every last avatar on the battlefield, save Parzival. And it is, of course, what happened.

I had thankfully kept a backup copy of Letti on hand, in case my avatar died in combat. She was waiting for me in the stash where I kept my most valuable items when I created my new avatar. Call me paranoid, but it did turn out to be worth the trouble.

The _Fearless_ had not been so fortunate. It had been caught in the blast like everything else, and unlike Letti, I had no backups. I was, however, able to acquire a new ship through some hard work. I named her the _Unstoppable Force_ , and she served has served me well over the years.

My armor and my other items were also lost, but thankfully they were all easily replaced. I was soon back to where I had started off before the battle, and over time I even reached new heights of power and fame. But that's a story for another time.


End file.
